Nonfarm employment grew by 142,000 jobs in August, coming in below the 12-month average monthly gain of 202,000 jobs, as reported in the latest BLS jobs report. In addition, job gains for June were revised down from 179,000 to 118,000 jobs, and July’s number was revised down from 114,000 to 89,000 jobs.
In August, the majority of added jobs were in construction (+34,000), health care (+31,000), and social assistance (+13,000). Manufacturing employment, meanwhile, decreased by 24,000 jobs. And temporary help services continued its downward trend with the loss of 2,900 jobs over the month.
The unemployment rate was little changed at 4.2%, with 7.1 million people experiencing unemployment. The number of people facing long-term unemployment remained at 1.5 million in August, and the labor force participation rate held at 62.7%.
